


Maybe This Time

by cbuugdrama9, GothixBat



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Carnival Hearts, Everlove, Everybody lives here because canon is but clay to me, F/M, I see no God up here OTHER THAN ME, If I didn't mark this right pls lemme know, M/M, Multi, My first (published) work in this fandom, No chairs were harmed in the making of this fanfic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, So basically this is kind of a Carnival Hearts (aka Everlove) fic, The ships in here are numerous depending on how you choose to read it, There's an argument for practically every ship, Willy deserves happiness okay, Wrote this on mobile and it was An Experience, if y'all like this I might mess around and make a oneshot book as a treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27198394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cbuugdrama9/pseuds/cbuugdrama9, https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothixBat/pseuds/GothixBat
Summary: It’s only while the four survivors and two helpers are walking back to the lounge that it hits them— the artifacts need sacrifices, but the sacrifices don’t have to be them.An obligatory Everyone Lives AU! (Featuring Eden’s amazing writing in the Witch section and in most of the epilogue)
Relationships: Calliope/Mortimer Wilson, Everyone & Everyone, The Detective | Matthew Patrick/The Record Producer | Manny MUA, The Hippie | JC Caylen/The Investigative Reporter | Safiya Nygaard if you squint, The Record Producer | Manny MUA & The Troublemaker | Nikita Dragun
Comments: 8
Kudos: 38





	Maybe This Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WitchyTwitchy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchyTwitchy/gifts).



The first time they pull it off, it’s an accident.

Matt and Safiya are in the zone trying to win that first challenge, and at this point, they’re neck-and-neck. When one of them hits a target, the other one isn’t far behind. They keep up that intense back-and-forth for a short eternity until—

They hit the final target at the same time.

No-one says anything for a few seconds, blinking in the shock. The first one to speak is the Head Clown, who pulls out two knives.

“If we don’t have a winner...we’ll just have some losers!” She announces with manic glee, before advancing on Jc.

Safiya...well, Safiya blacks out for a few moments after that, to be fully honest, so she has no idea how it happens. All she knows is when she opens her eyes, she has the Head Clown’s corpse at her feet and a shaking Jc behind her.

Huh.

As she turns to gently free Jc and help him down, she hears Matt working on the Jack in the Box— Mortimer and Calliope get Teala.

  
  


It’s only while the four survivors and two helpers are walking back to the lounge that it hits them— the artifacts need sacrifices, but the sacrifices don’t have to be _them._

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The second time they pull it off, it’s almost a miracle.

Nikita’s still doubtful that this will work, but she has a vial of antidote stored in her boot and Manny’s voice in her ears, asking her to try for his sake. He’s hopeful that it’s possible to cheat death like this, and Nikita can’t bring herself to do anything but try and prove him right.

She doesn’t _want_ people to die— she’ll even admit that she feels at fault for Roi fighting for his life next to her— but if Manny hadn’t pleaded with her to try this plan, she’d already have won and secured her safety.

After all, this whole “happy ending” thing seems too good to be true. In a twisted game like this, you just don’t get a happy ending.

She has the last piece to her mosaic. The temptation to put it in was maddening.

But, instead, she helps Roi look for his pieces. Soon, they both have their final piece, ready to put them in.

Locking eyes, they quickly count to three and push their pieces into the mosaics.

The prowling Snake Woman hisses in rage as she lunges for Nikita, but Roi seems to have anticipated that. He quickly grabs a rock and throws it at the Snake Woman’s head, rushing her. Nikita curses under her breath before charging the Snake Woman from the other side.

Up against a Daredevil and a Troublemaker who had antidotes to her bite, the Snake Woman never stood a chance.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The third time, it’s becoming routine.

Ro and Teala expected to be voted in, and the second their names were pulled, the group began talking strategy. Matt pointed out that every enemy so far has had a weakness— the clowns were unhinged, but they were also cocky; the Snake Woman had a venomous bite, but they had an antidote to fight that; the Man with No Name has long limbs and is guarded by thick smoke, but they can hide and wait to trip him.

For once, Ro’s thankful she’s short— she’s gonna be able to use that to her advantage soon.

She’s just finished helping Teala find her pieces to Benjamin’s name; she links their fingers as they call his name out together.

The second he whips around to them, Ro grabs Teala’s hand and runs. Being short means she can easily hide in the fog if she crouches down.

Teala pulls her behind a tree, grabs a long branch off the ground, and _waits_.

Seconds tick by. Neither of them make a sound.

Then, they hear Benjamin coming.

As soon as he creeps by the tree, Teala shoots out the branch. It snags against Benjamin’s legs and he falls forward in a very ungraceful manner. Teala jerks the branch up, twists it, and shish-kabobs him. Ro lets out a surprised yelp, but it’s over as soon as it started.

Benjamin is dead. Somehow, Ro and Teala are not.

Three artifacts down.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The fourth time, they almost fail.

Manny and Matt are tied in the strength competition— Matt won two challenges, and Manny won two. Matt has to admit, he’s proud of himself for lasting this long. A strength competition against Manny is a death sentence, plain and simple. And yet, he’s still here.

Then they bring out the arm-wrestling table. Matt’s heart drops.

“...Well, I had a good run?” Matt mumbles jokingly, his smile not reaching his eyes.

Manny whips around to face Matt, eyes wide. “Why does that sound like quitting?”

“There’s a difference between quitting and being resigned, Manny.” Matt gestures towards the table as he continues, “You beat me in an arm wrestling match less than an hour ago. Why would it be different now?”

Manny falls silent in thought, ignoring the strong-man and his girlfriend jeering at them to hurry up and arm-wrestle. It’s like nothing exists except him and Matt.

Manny speed-walks over to Matt and urgently whispers in his ear, “it’ll be different because I’ll throw the match.”

_“What?!”_

Matt tries to push back away from Manny, but Manny gently grabs his forearms and brings them against his chest. “Manny, you can’t do that—“

“Matt, think about it. Think about what our mission is tonight.” They both shoot an involuntary glance at the strongman before Manny lowers his voice back to a soft whisper in Matt’s ear.

“The only way out is to fight the strongman, and we both know I’m the strongest. If _I_ lose this match, we have a chance. If _you_ lose…”

Manny’s teary eyes suddenly cloud over, as if he’s far away— Matt realizes that Manny’s imagining how he’d die, and quickly tries to shake Manny back to reality.

“What’s taking so long, huh?!” Veronica barks, stalking towards them. She shoots Matt a look and remarks, “get your boyfriend under control and _hurry up!”_

Matt pulls himself free from Manny’s limp hold, which seems to wake Manny from his trance. Matt jerks his head questioningly towards the arm-wrestling table, even as his eyes warn that this conversation is _not_ over. Manny agrees— though to which part, Matt’s not sure— and they walk over to the table.

“Manny, let’s both do our best and let the best man win, okay?” Matt holds his hand out to shake, his other hand casually resting on the table. Manny extends an arm and shakes Matt’s hand with a nod.

Matt hears sounds of shock, Joey loudly declaring he can’t watch this anymore, and he registers an emotional Nikita mumbling something he can’t quite hear, but he doesn’t have time to question it. The strong-man wants blood, and they’ve wasted a lot of his time already— at this rate, they _both_ could be in danger.

They get into their positions. Then, ever so cautiously, Matt and Manny begin to push against the other’s hand.

Matt feels resistance. _Thank goodness…_

They soon start shoving harder and harder against each other’s hand, breaths quickening.

“Hey— Matt?” Manny manages to choke out between breaths.

“Yeah?”

Manny then meets Matt’s eyes, a dangerous look in them. Not dangerous like “I’m gonna win” or “something’s behind you”. No, it’s far worse. Manny’s eyes clearly communicate an apology; Matt realizes a second too late what’s happening.

“I’m so sorry.” Manny quickly says before letting his arm go limp. Matt tries to ease up the pressure he’s putting on Manny’s arm, but it’s too late.

Manny’s arm goes down.

The only sound is the soft crying of someone in their group.

“You promised…” Matt whispers. In response, Manny pulls his other arm out from behind his back.

His fingers are crossed. Suddenly, Nikita’s reaction makes sense.

“Are you ready to die?!” The strong-man yells as he grabs Manny. Most of the group takes this as their cue to go cleanse the artifact; Joey rushes forward to try and help Manny, but he’s ushered away by a sympathetic but stoic Calliope.

“Are _you_ , bitch?” Is Manny’s response as he swings his body weight into a gut pinch, turning his hips for momentum. 

For a second, the strongman staggers back. Just as quickly, however, he shakes it off and charges at Manny again.

He reaches for the record producer—

**_‘CLANG!’_ **

The strongman reaches down to grab the bucket that was thrown at him, somehow tearing it into chunks. He throws them in the direction the bucket came from, never looking away from Manny.

He stalks forward, grabbing Manny’s collar with one hand and lifting him off the ground. Manny closes his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. The strongman tilts his head to stare at his prey, chuckling darkly—

“I knew you’d tear the bucket.”

That’s the last thing the strongman hears before a large metallic bucket-chunk is embedded in his now-exposed neck.

He immediately drops Manny.

Manny’s savior yanks out the chunk of bucket before swinging again. And again. And again.

Soon, the strongman knows no more. The group chooses that moment to run back to Manny and his savior, gasping at what they saw.

“Matt, how did you kill him?” Safiya asks, curiosity taking over.

“It was simple— terrifying, but simple. The strongman functions with his demon-arm and intimidation tactics first and his brain second. I couldn’t fight without a weapon, and I didn’t have any weapon available, so I threw the bucket. Like I predicted, he decided to intimidate Manny by ripping the bucket apart. I got him to make me a weapon.”

Ro charges forward to wrap Matt in a hug; Nikita punches Manny in the arm for nearly dying, but shamelessly melts into his embrace anyway.

“..Uh, guys?” Teala asks. This grabs the attention of the four embracing group members— they turn to see everyone staring at the strongman’s girlfriend. The girlfriend in question, Veronica, flips them off with a glare.

“Why is she still here?” Roi asks, pointing at Veronica. “Wasn’t she supposed to _poof_ like the others?”

“Even evil has loved ones,” Jc shrugs. “She clearly doesn’t count as a monster to the artifacts.”

“So what should we do with her?” Mortimer asks, looking at the others.

“...We keep her with us.” Joey answers. All heads swivel to him. “This is my third time in these death games. Every time, there’s the same twist; it’s just done in different ways...one of the deaths isn’t a challenge— it’s a betrayal. A sacrifice.”

In a flash, Calliope had Veronica on her knees with her arms pinned behind her back. “Then your plan is wise. We keep her as our hostage.”

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The fifth time, it’s almost too easy.

They were still assuming Veronica didn’t fade into smoke like the other monsters because of the strongman’s...unorthodox death. Instead, she was forced to stick around as their hostage in case Joey was right.

She’s standing there right next to the group as they read the Maiden of Madness’ note; rather than being helpful, she was choosing to drink heavily from her bottle.

As soon as Safiya finishes reading the note aloud, a surprised silence fills the room. After a few beats, the resident Daredevil breaks it.

“Wait— we have to vote for someone to just..die? No challenge, no chance to save themselves?” Roi asks, blinking in the shock.

Nikita rolls her eyes. “Don’t tell me this is a hard choice, Roi. We planned ahead for this, remember?”

All eyes turn to Veronica, who glares at them over the rim of her bottle. “You lookin’ at somethin’? Huh? See something _funny_?”

Safiya pulls out her pen. “No, but I _do_ see a plan.” She then walks over to Matt, grabs his detective journal from his pocket, and carefully rips out a blank piece of paper.

She holds up a hand to silence his protest before walking to the voting station. Once there, she places down the piece of paper and writes a name— Safiya turns around and shows everyone the paper.

It now says ‘ _Veronica_ ’ in a neat, no-nonsense script.

“We can _do_ that?” Colleen asks no-one in particular. Jc shrugs in response before calmly sauntering over to Matt and holding out a hand, silently requesting a piece of paper of his own. With a smile, Matt produces one for him.

Matt quickly makes his way around the room, giving all the guests a piece of paper— when he reaches Veronica, she tries to tear his journal out of his hands. Matt just barely manages to jerk it back.

“Where’s my paper? Everyone else got one. You playin’ favorites?”

Matt easily hands his journal off to Rosanna before he calmly steps towards Veronica, making direct eye contact. “Tell you what; if you can _genuinely_ name three people in this room and point out each one you name, I’ll give you a piece.”

Her eyes immediately begin flickering around the room uneasily, but she doesn’t find any help or answers.

Teala lets out a snort, gesturing to Roi. “Someone said his name five seconds ago.”

Veronica’s eyebrows furrow in concentration at that. After a pause, quiet laughter begins to rise in the room— everyone turns to see Colleen, futilely biting her lip to try and stifle her chuckling. “You know _you’re_ a person in this room, right?”

Manny only just manages to stop Veronica from lunging at Colleen. Matt retrieves his journal from Rosanna and continues around the room, trying to keep a smirk off his face.

Soon, everyone was voting— even though the pen moving was the only sound in the room, it was clear that each guest voted the same person.

Calliope then reaches into the voting box to pull out a name. They all knew she didn’t need to at this point, but they saw no harm in it.

Calliope, unsurprisingly, pulls out a slip of paper with Veronica’s name written on it— the handwriting was a relaxed, flowing script. The corner of Jc’s mouth twitches up as he shares a knowing look with Safiya.

“I hate all of you,” Veronica snarls as Nikita and Manny step towards her.

Manny unceremoniously picks Veronica up and throws her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Can’t hear your bitching over the sound of your drinking problem,” Nikita snarks back at her.

Manny sets her down inside the maiden, and Matt gives a little two-fingered salute in the corner.

“See you never, girl.” Colleen mutters as she helps Nikita close the maiden doors.

Ro— always the innocent one— still finds it in herself to feel bad, but Matt wraps her in a hug to shield her from the screams. He softly mutters something comforting about Veronica getting to be with her boyfriend again, and eventually his soul sister wipes her tears. Manny hugs Joey in another corner, whispering thanks to him for planning ahead.

They get back to work. The night goes on. Another artifact cleansed, another corpse that could’ve been one of them.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The sixth time, it is, in a way, Ro’s innocence that saves them.

Manny and Nikita are in the funhouse; they’ve been there for an almost suspicious amount of time. Joey’s pacing so much, one could almost worry he’d make a rut in the floor. With every second that passes, Ro seems to get more and more anxious as the seconds tick by. Eventually, it’s too much for her. She _has_ to say something.

“Someone should go wait outside the Funhouse for them,” she finally whispers against Matt’s side. “We’ve saved everyone so far, but if one of them doesn’t make it…”

Matt holds her tighter, running gentle fingers through her hair.

“I can go,” Safiya offers, standing up. She moves towards the door, but Jc puts a hand on her arm to stop her.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” His eyes flicker to Ro, who’s staring at him with these big, teary doe-eyes. “I think _someone_ should go,” he reassures her, “but you two were the ones who voted them in. Imagine if someone voted you in against Matt, and they were the one waiting for you when you got out.”

Safiya sighs, nodding her head before sitting down.

“Guys, Nikita and Manny might not be what we have to worry about.” Matt says quietly.

Everyone turns to him.

“What do you mean?” Colleen asked him, confused.

“Well, Willy said ‘ _anything can happen in the Funhouse_ ’ or something, right?” Matt cautiously begins as something begins to dawn on him. “What if someone else entirely is the target?”

“Mortimer and Calliope?” Roi asks from his spot on the couch. “Mortimer said he knew Willy.”

“Maybe. I don’t trust Willy as-is, but with the way he told Ro and Safiya to ‘choose wisely’ and all, something feels...wrong.”

“I’m willing to go,” Mortimer says, shrugging. “If it’s me he wants, I don’t want anyone else in danger.”

“We could never ask that of you!” Colleen quickly interjects, shaking her head.

All of a sudden, Ro gasps. Everyone turns to her.

“Matt, I think I figured it out. Willy told us to ‘choose wisely’ because the Funhouse is unpredictable and all. When it was just me and Safiya left, he didn’t come back to capture us— almost like he wanted us to win. There were only two of us voting, and two people competing.”

“What are you saying, Ro?” Joey asks, eyebrows furrowing.

Safiya connects the dots first. “She’s saying that Willy wants _one of us_. We each chose one person to compete— I chose Nikita, and she chose Manny. If Nikita wins, he’s likely going after me. If Manny wins, it’s probably Ro.”

“So we at least all agree that something isn’t right about the Funhouse?” Teala asks the group. Everyone shows some form of agreement.

“In that case, we plan ahead. Mortimer, Calliope, Rosanna, and Safiya have to hide— there has to be some hidden room they can wait this out. If we’re wrong about this, then we let them out and comfort whoever won. If we’re right…” Matt trails off, and Mortimer hands Matt his gun once more.

At that moment, they hear the arcade door open.

They quickly hide the four potential victims in a nearby alcove and shove some furniture to block the entrance as naturally as possible.

Joey cracks his knuckles. Roi grabs a chair— Colleen gives him a slightly-amused look but he just shrugs with a shaky grin. Teala snatches up a flashlight and gives a few practice swings in the air, nearly hitting Jc.

Matt cocks his gun, but quickly realizes Mortimer forgot to give him any bullets. ‘ _Figures_.’

The door opens, and there stands Willy, the four-faced funhouse man. Right now, he’s clearly set to Angry.

“Red sweater, where is she?” He snarls. Matt distantly wonders what would happen if someone were to grab Willy’s head and switch it to the Happy face— would that do anything?

Matt shakes off the thought, focusing. Willy’s clearly after Safiya— his hook has no blood on it. Nikita and Manny are safe.

_Ro was right._

“She’s not here,” Joey says.

Jc must remember at the same time everyone else does that Joey is a terrible liar, because he steps forward to build on the story. “Safiya felt guilty about voting Nikita into the challenge, so she left to get some air by one of the tents.” He then seems to realize how suspicious it would be of him to outright sell his friend out, so he adds on, “why? Did Nikita ask for her?”

Willy’s head switches to the sad face. “Nikita and Manny are about to fight against each other. They each need a partner, and Nikita requested her.”

_That’s bull_ , Matt thinks, but then he spots what Jc is trying to do. Roi’s been carefully crossing behind the couch to sneak up on Willy, Colleen helping him hold his chair steady.

_It doesn’t matter_ what _Willy says_ , Matt realizes. _Answers aren’t the goal right now. We just need to keep him talking so he doesn’t notice Roi and Colleen._

He steps forward too, blocking part of Willy’s view of the couch. “Who’d Manny request, then?”

Willy turns to him, and Matt keeps his gaze and voice even through sheer power of will. He just has to stall. Ramble. Spew completely nonsensical bullshit in a serious enough tone that he seems confident and knowledgeable. Talk like he’s writing a 10-page college essay that’s due in an hour.

_They chose the perfect man for the job._

“If Nikita and Manny both need partners, and Nikita chose Safiya as her partner, that means Manny needs a partner too. It would naturally have to be one of us, because we’re the survivors and therefore are the people Manny has to pick between.

“If Safiya was the one who Nikita chose, despite them not being the closest people here, which says quite a bit, because Nikita is basically only close with one person, that person being Manny— she’s against Manny, however, so she clearly can’t choose him—- but for her to pick _Safiya…_ ”

Jc looks impressed as Matt continues rambling in an attempt to stall. Teala and Joey seem a little confused, but as Roi and Colleen start to move by them, it dawns on them too what Matt’s doing.

“...And Safiya isn’t very physically strong, so it’s likely not a strength challenge in the funhouse— it would make sense if it were a mental challenge, since funhouses, classically, deal with the mind and warping of perceptions, which would also make sense because Safiya is very smart; one of the smartest people in the group, if I can state my own opinion, and you know what, I think I will—“

“Enough!” Willy’s face shifts to rage for a second before it flips over to happy.

“You’re not supposed to figure out the challenge before you get there, you know. It makes sense why Manny chose _you_ as his partner, Matt. Clearly you’re very smart.”

_Well, crap._ Matt can’t ramble about theories anymore if Willy’s going to answer his ‘questions’ so matter-of-factly. Time for a new strategy. Matt can only hope Roi and Colleen hurry, because Willy’s bound to notice their disappearance.

And if this new strategy goes wrong, Matt could easily become the first casualty of the night.

“Wait a second. If they’ve been gone for such a long time, why are you coming to get us _now?_ Manny and Nikita have been at the funhouse for a _while_. What have you been doing?”

Willy doesn’t seem to have an answer for that for a second. After that quick beat, however, his face shifts to rage.

“I’ve had enough of you, Matthew Patrick. Tell me where Safiya is, or else.”

Matt sends out a prayer that Roi’s ready, because if he isn’t...this is gonna be it for Matt.

“Or else _what?_ ” Matt asks, walking towards Willy and pointing his empty gun at him, keeping a stony poker face.

Willy growls and goes to rush towards Matt—

**_“LET’S GO!”_ **

With a loud crash, Roi breaks the chair over Willy’s head. Willy immediately collapses to the ground, unconscious.

“That was awesome…” Roi whispers, a huge grin on his face. Jc walks over and gives Roi a fistbump as Colleen lets the others out of the secret room.

Ro rushes to Matt and squeezes him tightly in a hug, muttering about how worried she was when she heard him stalling like that.

After a moment of holding Ro in his arms, she reluctantly pulls away. All eyes fall on Willy.

Mortimer takes the gun from Matt and loads it before he hands it back. “I don’t think Willy was ever a truly bad person, deep down,” Mortimer says. “He got corrupted by that spinning hypnosis wheel. The same thing almost happened to me earlier, but Calliope managed to stop me in time.”

Mortimer’s expression is grave as he turns to Matt. “Willy’s unconscious now. If there was ever a good time to shoot him, it’s now— he shouldn’t feel anything.”

Matt nods and steps forward, kneeling down next to Willy.

“Maybe now you’ll finally find peace, Willy,” Matt whispers.

He puts the gun to Willy’s head and fires.

It’s immediately clear to them all that Willy’s dead, because he morphs back into something more human— something with only one face.

The expression on Willy’s true face is a peaceful smile.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The seventh time, they become badasses.

“Joey, Manny, Ro, and Matt are in.” Roi says, bursting back into Fatman Slims.

“Perfect; Mortimer and Calliope with them?” Safiya asks— The Daredevil gives an excited nod.

“Cool. Nikita, Colleen, remember what you got to do?” She asks. The Disco Dancer and Troublemaker nod.

“Stay here and play medic in case something goes wrong—“ Colleen begins,

“—And smack the witches with a baseball bat if needed!” Nikita adds. 

“Exactly! Great, cool, okay.” Safiya tries to hide her nerves, but it isn’t working. “Colleen, you have the cloak?” Safiya asks and Colleen hands her the extra cloak.

“You three ready?” Safiya asks, looking at the selected group. Teala and Roi nod, and Jc responds with a peace sign. “Alright, let’s go make an invisibility cloak.” 

“Be safe!” Nikita blurts out as the four of them left Fatman Slims.

“Let’s just hope nothing goes wrong…” Colleen says anxiously.

“Honey, we made it this far— nothing can stop us.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Safiya and Team Badass— Roi, Teala, and Jc— all book it to where Manny, Matt, and Mortimer made the invisibility cloak. They take the very little remaining ingredients left and pour it onto the cloak.

“Teala, you up for this?” Jc asks.

“If it means becoming a badass hero? Hell yeah! Fork it over Soph—“ Teala catches and corrects herself, “ _Safiya_ ,”

The investigative reporter smiles and gives the cloak to Teala. “Go and be the cool super spy you are!” Roi beams. Teala takes a deep breath and throws the cloak over herself. The Super Spy quickly turns invisible. She then runs off to where the challenge is taking place.

“The small one is falling behind, I think she might be our victim!” Belle declares, watching as Rosanna begins to vomit.

“At least we won’t have to drag her,” Debra says.

“By the looks of how it’s going? We might,” Sandra points out. 

“But either way, we’ll be the first to get a kill. Perhaps The Carnival Master might be able to get us out of this damn town if we’re the only ones who can get a kill around here!”

“Oh, I hope!” Debra smiles.

“Let it out tiny one! We don’t like cleaning vomit!” Belle calls.

Teala sneaks up behind the witches who are still giving their commentary while Mortimer and Calliope nervously stand a few feet away, shouting supportive things at Manny who’s stalling— well, not really _stalling_ , more like sightly complaining about his ruined makeup at the bobbing for rotten apples.

Carefully reaching out her arm, Teala holds her breath and grabs Sandra’s dagger. Thankfully, Sandra’s caught up in conversation with her sisters. So that makes stealing Debra and Belle’s daggers so much easier. 

Teala then runs back over to Safiya, Jc, and Roi— and just in time, too, since the last of the invisibility wore off.

“Alright, here,” the super spy says. The other three members of Team Badass each take a dagger. “Have fun stabbing those witch bitches, and don’t get slapped with magic.”

“We’ll be careful.” Jc promises her. After an emotional beat, Teala nods.

Just like that, Jc, Safiya, and Roi begin their journey to the witches. Teala hastily books it back to the Fatman Slims with the cloak.

  
  


“Where’s my dagger?” Sandra snaps at Belle and Debra— they shrug, before checking themselves over.

“I can’t find mine either!” Debra says.

“I second that!” Belle chimes in.

The three slowly look at Mortimer and Calliope and raise their wands at them.

“Which one of your stupid little friends took our daggers?” Sandra demands and the taller helper shrugs.

“We don’t know, did you _drop them?”_ Mortimer asks, sounding both amused and bored. 

“Don’t play stupid, pretty boy!”

“Watch it!” Calliope snaps. “I’m the only one who can call him pretty boy— so you three wicked witches can go back to where you came from!” The three witches look mildly offended, anger flashing over their faces.

“Now you listen here Calliope—”

Yet Sandra never gets to finish her remark; she’s interrupted by Debra, who screams when Roi throws himself onto her and stabs her in the back.

“Debra!” Belle cries before she falls to the ground as Safiya stabs her over and over. 

“What the hell is going on here?” Sandra demands before feeling herself get grabbed, a dagger flush against her exposed throat. 

“You simply messed with the wrong group,” Jc says darkly. He then calmly stabs her in the neck and steps back as Sandra drops to the ground.

“Nice one with the dramatics,” Safiya compliments.

“Gotta have a dramatic moment eventually, man,” Jc responds. 

_“Ohmygod!”_ Joey, Manny, and Matt run over and hug the trio while Calliope and Mortimer hurry over to Rosanna and help her back to the lounge.

“That was so cool!” Joey laughs. “Like, that was so so _cool_! Jc you came out of, like, nowhere!”

“It’s called hiding behind a tree and being high,” Jc answers.

“C’mon. Let’s just get back to Fatman Slims before the others panic, cleanse Maria, and put these three bitches out of misery!” Manny says, and with that the two groups reconvene at Fatman Slims.

They’re so close they can taste it, now.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The eighth and final time, Nikita almost makes them think all hope is lost.

Everyone's hearts drop as Nikita finds the gun and reads the accompanying note. This is it. The worst part is, none of them seem to have any idea of what the troublemaker is going to do.

_They have no idea_.

They clearly know someone is about to be shot, but they don’t know who. Well, they clearly didn’t read the previous note right. It said two people needed to beat Lucy at her own game.

Nikita is the only one who sees the third option.

“Manny, I need you to know this isn’t personal. Personal feelings never belonged in Everlock. That philosophy got me here. We’ve been ride-or-die bitches for years, and that’s great, but now there’s only room for one of us. We rode as long as we could, but now one of us has to die. And it can’t be me.”

Manny pales. She quickly takes a chance and winks at him, but nothing changes in his expression. He might not have even seen the wink. Too bad; she can’t risk it again.

“I wish I was naive like everyone else. I wish I could be relaxed like Jc, or sweet like Rosanna, or resourceful like Matt. But that isn’t me. I can’t relax when I know how this game was made to work; I can’t be sweet when the world starts crumbling; I can’t come up with snappy plans or solutions on the fly.

“All I know is what we’ve done and what we were meant to do. And no-one else sees it. I wish it wasn’t me who had to do this.”

Lucy creeps closer to try and see better, drawn in by the drama. She seems absolutely riveted... just like Nikita was hoping.

Everyone seems shocked at what’s happening, and in her peripheral vision, she sees a few jaws drop.

Nikita makes a mental note to explain later— right now, it’s getting about time to wrap this up.

“We’ve all been pitted against each other from the start. We keep trying to kill anything _except_ each other, and, sure, that seems to be working. For now. But that’s just it; no one else has stopped to consider the possibility that this is rigged against us. You don’t cheat death and get away with it.

“It’s like I’ve been saying since this all started— in a twisted game like this, you just don’t get a happy ending.

“Maybe that’s why fate chose me. Because I’m the only one with the balls to call things like they are.” For good measure, she allows some tears to fill her eyes— Manny looks confused for a second because of this, but the horror is immediately back on his face. Only this time, he’s trembling too.

Maybe he’s _actually_ terrified now, she distantly thinks.

_At least this is about to end._

“Fate chose me because I’m the only person here who could make this call, no matter how hard it is. I’m a survivor— I’m a fighter.”

Lucy is almost where Nikita needs her...just a little further…

“I am Nikita Dragun, and this dress looks too cute to get shot up.”

Nikita levels the gun at Manny, watching Lucy carefully from the corner of her eye.

“You’re not gonna shoot me.” Manny says in a horrified whisper. Nikita almost wants to yell at him for giving everything away, since he **_has_ ** to know what she’s doing by now, but then it hits her— _he actually thinks I’m going to shoot him right now._ Lucy’s too close for her to wink again, but she can try to reassure him ‘in-character’.

“Manny, I love you.” She whispers back, letting tears fall.

There— Nikita has a straight shot. _Showtime_.

“You’re not gonna shoot me.” Manny says louder, breaths growing frantic.

“Manny, _I love you._ ” Nikita matches him, subtly angling herself to make the switch-up more fluid. When she turns the gun, she’ll only have an instant. If she misses, that could be it for all of them.

Over by the audience, she thinks she spots Matt and Safiya relaxing slightly— they must’ve figured out what she was doing. Nikita only hopes Lucy doesn’t figure it out too.

_“You’re not gonna shoot me!”_ Manny yells, in hysterics.

**_“Manny, I love you!”_ ** Nikita yells back, finger flying to the trigger—

Everything happens in an instant. Before anyone can think or breathe, Nikita turns on a dime and fires all six bullets into Lucy’s head.

When the smoke clears, Nikita calmly slips off her straightjacket and walks over to the corpse of Lucy.

“Foolish bitch,” she scoffs. Nikita drops the gun and turns back to Manny.

“Did you really think I was about to shoot you? We’re _ride-or-die_.”

Manny’s makeup is running at this point, and she knows her makeup probably was too, but as Nikita quickly helps her friend out of his straightjacket and hugs him tight, she’s never felt so beautiful.

Her friends— because that’s what they all were now, like it or not— slowly join the hug, and Nikita can’t help but think of how lucky they are.

“Nikita, you’re a badass bitch.” Manny whispers to her, which is somehow more of an ‘I love you’ than the words themselves could ever be.

“You know it, hunny,” is her response, but her best friend understands what she means.

The group pulls apart and look at each other before walking out of the tent, towards the church. Roi cracks a joke about them needing to walk in slow-motion because “this feels like the end of an action movie,” and she feels the urge to remind him that they still have a little more work to do.

Instead, she laughs as he and Jc start walking in an exaggerated slo-mo swagger; she rolls her eyes and tells them they look ridiculous, but they still hear the warmth in her voice and grin at her.

Yes, they have more work to do. But they’re together.

In this twisted game, they’ve earned their happy ending. Now it’s time for the next chapter.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

As the sun begins to rise, the group heads out from The Church where the Society Against Evil took down The Carnival Master. A major feeling of relief and bliss wash over them as they see the curtain. 

“Finally, freedom, we can leave this hellhole of a town!” Matt cheers.

“No more clowns,” Jc begins.

“Snake-women,” Roi adds.

“Very tall men,” Teala chimes.

“Strong demoniclike men,” Matt jokes.

“Or creepy maidens and dolls!“ Colleen reminds them.

“Or funhouses and a man with four faces, who quite honestly seemed like he needed a hug.”

“Don’t forget the scary witches!”

“Or psychos and their dogs that are, like, straight up from a horror movie!”

“And zombies!” Nikita tops it off.

“You guys head home, I’ll be right back.” Joey says, and the others are too tired to object. Joey can order an uber for all they care. They just want to get home!

Matt grabs Blanche on the way out. He dramatically pushes back the curtain, and the group walks out into the light.

“So; Nikita, Roi— wanna ride with me, Calliope, and Ro?” Matt asks, glancing at the car he and Rosanna took.

“Thanks” Nikita smiles.

“Heck yeah! I call dibs on passengers!” Roi jokes and runs towards the car, Nikita laughing as she runs after him.

“Passenger seat is _mine,_ Daredevil!”

“Hey! It’s mine!” Ro giggles, quickly running after Nikita. Calliope shakes her head at them with a smile on her face, calmly following them.

“You two need a ride?” Manny asks Jc and Safiya as he unlocks the van, letting Teala, Colleen, and Mortimer in.

“We gladly accept,” Jc answers. He and Safiya then climb in the back with Mortimer and Colleen.

Then, it’s just Manny and Matt.

“Are you ready to go home?” The Detective asks, and Manny nods.

“Of _course!”_ They laugh for a second before Manny suddenly seems to remember something. “Oh, and take this.” The Record Producer reaches into his pocket and gives Matt a slip of paper. “Call me whenever. I’d like to hang out with you again.” Manny’s trying to play it cool, but Matt can see that Manny’s a little flustered. Matt decides to do his act of community service for the day and bail Manny out.

“Of course, that sounds nice. Bye Manny— see you around!” Matt gives a small smile as relief floods the Record Producer’s whole body.

“Bye, Detective,” is Manny’s coy response. With a wink, he’s gone.

A goofy grin gradually spreads across Matt’s face as he turns toward his car and slowly gets in, ready to drive his friends home. They tease him, he playfully shushes them, and they speed off to the tunes of High School Musical.

Tonight, they’re all leaving Everlock together. Maybe this time, they’ll stay together.


End file.
